


Day 7- Childhood Friends

by Broken_Clover



Series: AU-gust [7]
Category: BlazBlue
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Autistic Character, Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:28:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25775890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Broken_Clover/pseuds/Broken_Clover
Summary: A caravan of performing dancers passes through Wadatsumi, and Tenjo takes her young apprentice to watch the show
Relationships: Amane Nishiki/Shishigami Bang
Series: AU-gust [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1860388
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	Day 7- Childhood Friends

Bang was a very easy person to read. More often than not, one didn’t even have to really try. If he didn’t outright state his opinions or feelings on something, his overexaggerated body language gave him away. The same applied to his interests. Whenever he found something new and exciting, it would be all he talked about.

Tenjo had caught him staring on their way back from training. A traveling caravan was passing through Wadatsumi. She had approved them days ago. As long as they didn’t cause trouble and weren’t too disruptive, she let them come through and take a few days to rest and restock. Her apprentice appeared utterly enraptured at the sight, like he’d never seen anything like it before.

“What are you looking at, Bang?” Was it anything in particular? “Do you like their horses?”

“Sparkly!”

“Sparkly?” A significant number of the travelers did seem to be wearing very eye-catching ensembles, flowy skirts and gem-studded accessories. Tenjo herself did wear some rather extravagant clothing, but she preferred keeping the colors simple. Meanwhile, they dressed in every color of the rainbow and then some. She watched Bang grab at the air towards the procession as it passed them. “Do you like all the colors?”

“Uh-huh! Sparkly!”

She supposed that they could watch for a minute or two. They weren’t in any rush. It was nice to see something happy in her beautiful Wadatsumi, with all the political strife that had been cropping up lately, it was starting to feel like everything was doom and gloom. They could all use something to take their minds off of things, even if it was temporary.

“Ten-jo-sa-ma!” Bang chirped, pointing at something else. “What’s that!”

A man in a beautiful, elaborate outfit was pinning something to the local notice board. A thick stack of papers were taking up his other arm, so it wasn’t much of a surprise to see him rush off immediately to start chatting with a pair of passers-by and offer them another.

“Hmm? I don’t know. Let’s go take a look.” When the road was clear, the two of them crossed the street to get a better look. There were a few notices already put up, but the newest one stuck out like a sore thumb with its bright colors.

_‘One Night Only!’_ It announced, in elaborate writing. _‘Witness the beauty and grace of the Mikoto Dance Troupe! Be charmed by the stunning visual performance and melodies! Show begins at 8pm in Block 4. Free admission, donations encouraged!’_

“A dancing show?” How odd. Those didn’t often come to Wadatsumi. She noticed her charge staring at the paper with bright eyes, bouncing up and down.

Had he ever seen something like this? He was a Wadatsumi native, it was unlikely a troupe had come through, and it didn’t seem probable his parents would take someone so young to another Hierarchical City for something like that. It had to be something new and interesting for him, no wonder he was so excited.

“Would you like to go to the show, Bang?” She asked. “You’ve already finished your training today, so we can go as a special treat, if you’d like.”

“We can??”

Tenjo chuckled. “Is that a yes, then?”

“YEAH!!”

++++++

“Woah…”

It seemed the festivities had attracted quite a lot of Wadatsumi’s inhabitants. She had already seen peasant farmers, politicians, and everything in between lined up to take a peek. A small crowd had already clustered around the entrance, and she could see people inside the performance area frantically carrying out more chairs to set up for their incoming audience.

“Are you alright, Bang?” She gave his hand a light squeeze. Tenjo knew he didn’t do well in crowds. In hindsight, she probably should have expected it, but all she could do now was give him as much patience as possible.

“Mmhm.” He nodded, with his face buried in his scarf to block out all the smells.

“Don’t worry, I promise it will be less crowded once we get inside.”

At least the man at the counter knew how to work fast. It didn’t take long for them to move up to the front. “Hello, ma’am! Two guests?”

“Yes.” Tenjo nodded. “Just a moment, Bang. Let me reach my pocket.” She let go of his hand, took a moment to be sure he wouldn’t immediately be swallowed up by the crowd, and dug into her robes in search of coin. Imperator or not, she could support small artists trying to make a living.

The man looked utterly dumbfounded at the pile of money she offered up. “Wow, th-thank you very much, ma’am! We appreciate your kindness!”

Had people not been donating? She hoped she hadn’t been the only person to do so. “Of course! Happy to help. May we head inside?”

“Absolutely!” He beckoned them to the gate. “Enjoy the show!”

“Thank you for being patient with me. Now we can- huh? Bang?”

When she looked down, he was nowhere to be seen. “Bang?!”

Her eyes tore around, trying to find the smallest hint of trailing red fabric. He may have been a burgeoning combatant and capable of fending for himself, she nonetheless felt anxiety pooling in her stomach.

“Ten-jo-sa-ma Ten-jo-sa-ma Ten-jo-”

Bang tried to peek out of the top of his scarf while still keeping it mushed over his nose. It had been too loud and smelly for him. Tenjo-sama had said that when he got overwhelmed, he should find a quiet place to sit until he felt better. There were a lot of tents over near the big wagons, and those seemed like a good place to hide. If he had a meltdown, then they would have to go home for the night, and he really wanted to see the pretty dancers!

One of the less-big tents across the lawn was already half-open, how lucky! He ducked inside and huddled in the corner.

“Ten-jo-sa-ma Ten-jo-sa-ma-” He mumbled to himself, rocking back and forth on his toes. It was way less crowded in the tent, and most of the bad smells had been replaced by a nice perfume. And thankfully, nobody interrupted his stimming until he started to feel a little bit more in control of himself.

“Hmm hmm, la da da~”

Bang’s ears perked up. Had someone been singing the whole time, and he had only just noticed it? 

He stood back up and turned towards the sound. Part of the tent was closed off by another curtain, with light spilling out from behind. Curiously, he approached to peek out from behind.

“La-la-la-la, da-da-dum~”

A boy about his age was twirling around, clutching bright pink ribbons in his tiny fists. His dancing wasn’t as smooth or fancy as the other dancers, but it was probably the same reason he wasn’t as good at fighting as Tenjo-sama or Ka-gu-ra-nii. Kids weren’t usually the best at things, adults had lots more time to practice, so they were really good!

“La-la- oh!” On his next turn, Bang watched him trip and fall on the hem of his skirt. “Owie…”

It must have been a bad fall, because his eyes started pinching and tearing up. Or maybe he was sad he had messed up the dance? He did that sometimes when he messed up a parry or fell off the climbing wall, even when it didn’t hurt.

Well, Tenjo-sama said people got better at things when you encouraged them! Maybe that was just what this one needed to help cheer him up.

So he started to clap. “That was really good! Until the part where you tripped, but I do that all the time too!”

“-eek!” The boy shrieked, jumping back and dropping his ribbons. Why had he done that?

“That was really good!” He said again, in case he hadn’t heard. “You’re really good!”

That seemed to calm him down a little. “I thought you were Tsukiyomi-san.” He said, picking up his ribbons again. “She always yells at me for fooling around before the show.”

“Are you gonna dance up on the big stage?”

“Yeah-huh!” He replied, with a glint of eagerness in his eyes. “I just do small parts now, but when I get big they’re gonna let me do all the important dances!” The boy puffed out his chest, making the pale pink scarf he wore fluff around his head like a halo. “My name is Nishiki Amane. I’m gonna be super famous someday, so you’d better remember it!”

“A-ma-ne Nishi-ki-kun. A-ma-ne-kun.” He liked the way it rolled off his tongue. “A-ma-ne-kun.”

“Amane! That’s me! I’m gonna be so great, people will clap and cheer and throw flowers at me whenever I dance!”

“Mmm.” Bang tilted his head. “My scarf is cooler than yours.”

“What?!” Amane shouted back. “No it isn’t! Mine’s the cooler one! It’s pink! And it looks really pretty when I dance!”

“Nuh-uh!” Replied Bang, with a growing smirk. “Mine is red, and red is the best.”

“Oh yeah?” Just as quickly, Amane was grinning back. “Well if it’s so cool, then give it to me!”

The ninja took off to run around the room. “No way! It’s mine!”

“Not for long!” The other boy started chasing him in circles.

“It’s mine!”

“Gimme!”

“No!”

“Give- oof!”

The dizziness very quickly made them crash into one another and fall in a heap. The two boys sat back up, looked at one another, and burst into giggles.

“That was fun!” Bang crowed.

“I feel dizzy.” Amane began undoing the loops of his scarf. “Wanna try mine? Let’s swap!”

“Okay!”

Amane had to help him tie the knots right so the scarf went around his shoulders, and Bang helped him loop the thick red fabric around so it would fall down his back and flap behind him when he ran.

“Sparkly!” He did a little twirl, watching how the pink material practically hovered over him. “Amane-kun looks like a superhero!”

“You think so?” It looked weird with his fancy dress, but Amane looked perfectly pleased with his new accessory, twirling a little before pulling it back off and handing it over. “It’s a little too heavy to dance in, though.”

Bang hadn’t considered that. “Maybe that’s why I can’t dance good. You’re really good, can you show me how to dance?”

Amane untied the pink scarf off him and put it back on himself. “Tsukiyomi-san says 'dancers can’t be truly great unless they look their best.' So maybe if I do your makeup, you’ll be better at it!”

On the other side of the tent, there was a pretty wooden vanity with a mirror and bottles of all different things lined up on it. Amane climbed onto the chair and began rooting around. “I only get to wear lipstick during big shows, so that’s probably the best!”

He found a tube of something and popped it open. Bang watched in confused intrigue as Amane rubbed it on his own lips. Wherever he put it, they turned a bright shade of pink.

“This color’s my favorite!” Pursing his lips and turning his head back and forth let Amane look at his reflection in different ways.

“Ok ok!” Bang raised his arms toward him. “Do me now!”

“Hold on! Gotta test it and see if it’s dry first!”

“How do you do that?”

Instead of responding, Amane bent down to kiss him on the mouth. Bang felt something sticky rub off on his lips, making him reel back and swat at his face.

“Guess it wasn’t dry…” The dancer sighed unhappily. “What’s wrong?”

“Sticky! Your mouth is sticky! Boys aren’t supposed to kiss!”

“Why not?”

“Hmm…” Bang thought for a moment. He couldn’t think of a good answer. He kissed Amane back on the forehead. Then he didn’t have to worry about being sticky, though he did leave a little smear of pink on his face.

Amane beamed. “See? Boys can kiss other boys! Some of the bigger kids do it all the time.”

How interesting. Amane-kun seemed to know a lot of things. Bang liked learning from him!

“Amane?” Said a strange voice. “The show starts in fifteen minutes, are you-”

A woman bustled into the tent, tying her hair back. She seemed interested in Bang as soon as she saw him. “Ah! Are you little Bang?”

He tilted his head. “No.”

She paused, looking at him with confusion. “Oh. I’m looking for a boy your age, with a red scarf sort of like yours, have you seen him? His name is Bang.”

“Mmhm.” He nodded. “I’m Bang.”

That only confused her further. “But you just told me it wasn’t your name?”

“My name is just ‘Bang.’”

The woman smiled, though it really didn’t look like a smile. “Ah. Alright, smarty-pants, your chaperone is looking for you.”

He wasn’t sure what that meant. Amane was nice enough to explain. “Like, the person you came with. Did you come with your mom?”

“I came with Ten-jo-sa-ma.” He’d nearly forgotten about her! He had been so distracted by playing with Amane-kun. Hopefully she wouldn’t be mad.

At that very moment, Tenjo followed the woman into the tent. “Bang! I was so worried, are you alright?”

“Ten-jo-sa-ma!” He shouted, burying himself in her skirt. “It was too smelly, so I found a quiet place like you told me to!”

“That’s...yes, that’s very good of you, Bang.” She gave him a pat on the back. “But next time, please let me know before you do that, alright? I don’t want to lose track of you in such a crowded place.”

He nodded. “O-k! Look at my friend A-ma-ne-kun!”

“Oh?” Tenjo looked at the other boy. “I’m so happy to see you making friends, Bang! But the show is about to start soon, why don’t we let them get ready and find a place to sit?”

“She’s right!” The other woman started ushering Amane towards another tent. “You still have to change!”

“Bye-bye A-ma-ne-kun!” Bang waved as they departed.

Tenjo gave her apprentice a small smile as they headed towards. “Did you have fun playing?”

“Mmhm! A-ma-ne-kun is a real good dancer! He’s gonna dance up on the stage!”

“We’ll have to keep an eye out for him then, won’t we?” It was wonderful that he was making friends his own age. She noticed he didn’t have much interest in the concept. As much as she wanted him to explore and do as he pleased without being too smothered, it was a tad worrisome that he only seemed interested in talking to her or Kagura.

She felt Bang slipping from her grip. Oh no, this wasn’t going to happen again. “Bang, don’t run away!”

But he didn’t. Instead, she watched him calmly walk over to a bush of lilies and crouch. He carefully plucked a few flowers off their stems and bunched them together in his free hand.

“Bang? What are you doing? The show is about to start soon!”

After plucking a few more, he stood back up and followed. “Mmhm. O-k Ten-jo-sa-ma.”

“What are the flowers for?”

“They’re for A-ma-ne-kun! So I can throw em at him when he dances!”

Throwing them? That was a bit odd. Then again, Bang was a bit of an odd child. But as long as he was enjoying himself and wasn't causing any harm, she supposed it wasn’t a big deal.


End file.
